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No Turning Back (TV Series)
"No Turning Back" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the one-hundred and twenty-seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 3, 2019. Plot Rick orders Michonne to escort Henry and Lydia to Hilltop for their safety. The town hall meeting turns violent. Synopsis Eugene pitches Rick the idea of using Lydia against Alpha as a form of payback for the recent massacre of the colony members. He argues that Lydia has killed people as well and has lost her innocence, even going so far as to say they would kill Lydia if the Whisperers call their bluff. Rick dismisses the idea several times saying that the girl is still a child, and she will not be put in any more danger. Michonne asks Eugene to leave, and he storms out of the house. After Eugene's departure, Rick and Michonne speak about how Lydia will not be safe as long as Eugene and the other survivors have the same idea in their heads. Michonne agrees to escort Judith, Henry, and Lydia to the Hilltop until the hostility blows over and they can form a more concrete plan. Sometime in the night, Michonne wakes Henry and has him get prepared for the trip to the Hilltop, explaining the situation and that Lydia is downstairs and ready. Henry asks Rick if they'll be safe at the Hilltop seeing as Alpha killed some of their residents, but Rick assures him that he will have a word with Maggie about the matter. Michonne, Judith, Henry, and Lydia begin their trek in the night. After their leave, Carol is shown stealthily sneaking into the Grimes house, knife drawn, and sneaking up the stairs. When Rick pulls a gun to the back of her head, she explains that she was only trying to find Lydia and get her to safety. She fills Rick in with how Eugene's words are getting around town, and that tomorrow will be a very rough day for Rick. They go to the kitchen and talk over drinks. Rick breaks the ice and asks Carol how she has been holding up since Ezekiel was killed. She begins to cry a bit, explaining that she is upset and angry, then tries to dismiss it and leave, but Rick tells her to wait. He explains that she needs to stop pushing people away. Rick begins to open up to Carol, telling her about how he had started to grow distant towards Lori when he was still a police officer. His work brought to him experiences that Lori would have a hard time sharing even if he wanted to, making his emotional reactions increasingly inscrutable to Lori. When he found out about her and Shane, he did not really blame either of them, but he was still hurt. By contrast, Michonne and Rick have lived through a lot of significant experiences together. They understand each other and have no secrets from each other. They have bonded and grow together to an extent that he did not even think possible before. Rick feels closer to Michonne than he ever was to Lori. Rick goes on to speculate that perhaps Carol has a bad habit of feeling undeserving of happiness. Rick feels that Carol still believes she is guilty for her daughter’s death and pushed Ezekiel away from her life because at some level she wants to punish herself for no good reason. He goes on to offer that Carol is likely to move on and learn to live and be happy despite her losses and guilts, yet deep down she will hate herself for that. Rick himself feels that he would not manage to be quite as happy as he is now had Lori and their son Carl not died. He would still bring them back if he had any means to, but the fact of the matter is that there is nothing he can do to advance such a goal. As such, he has to accept reality for what it is and go on despite all the conflicting feelings, as has Carol. Carol asks him if the pain will ever go away, and he answers point-blank that it will not, prompting a rare emotional outburst from Carol. She begins to cry openly and admits that she never stopped missing Ezekiel, but at the same time felt that she was punishing herself properly for having failed her daughter. But now she sees that this is just a sick, pointless game of imposing needless guilts on herself for no good reason. Rick encourages her to perceive the current situation as "being even": she lost Ezekiel, so she can allow herself to let go of the guilt over her daughter as well. Now she better let go of all dark feelings and pursue happiness as opposed to punishment. Carol cries a bit more, wipes her tears and smiles at Rick, telling him that he is messed up yet she loves him. Well on their way to the Hilltop, Michonne, Judith, Henry and Lydia meet Gus, a patrolman. He asks if things are alright, and Michonne pleasantly asks him to not let anyone know that he'd seen her. He obliges. Lydia starts questioning Michonne about asking Gus to lie for her. Out of her growing suspicion, she starts asking why anyone wants to hurt her. Michonne and Henry try to get her to realize that people will want to blow off steam in any way that they can without thinking clearly. Lydia, still refusing to believe this, starts become irritable, explaining that her mother doesn't care about her, and that the plans Eugene's made wouldn't work. Michonne tries to deny this and respond that her mother does care about her, and Henry even tells her that Michonne can be trusted. Lydia finally speaks her mind, asking if they had Gus lie because she was being taken back to her mother. Pulling a gun on Michonne, she demands that they tell her the truth. Lydia keeps her gun pointed at Michonne, demanding to know where they're taking her. After Michonne draws her Katana in response Henry starts to point his stick at Michonne. Realizing what he just did he adjusts his aim towards Lydia instead and tells her to lower her gun or he'll stab her in the arm. All three lower their weapons and sort the conflict out. Alpha wanders into the forest and stops, propping up against a tree she begins to cry until she is greeted by a fellow Whisperer. The whisperer understands that Alpha is upset for sending Lydia away from them but thinks she did the right thing since Lydia wasn't strong enough to be part of their group. Alpha worries that he thinks her weak for showing emotions. He assures her she won't have to worry about him but urges her to make sure no else gets to know. She agrees and swiftly cuts his throat open. Another whisperer witnesses the end of the confrontation and asks what happened. She tells him that the other whisperer tried to challenge her position as she wipes her knife clean, leaving the body to be processed. Meanwhile, Daryl returns to the Sanctuary from the fair and tells his fellow Savior Laura that he doesn't want to be the leader anymore. He explains that he is under a lot of stress due to the situation with the Whisperers and having to lead. Laura tells him that they need a leader, and that he cannot quit now. At a town meeting in Alexandria, Rick informs the crowd that they'll be crossing into whisperer-territory to gather information about their numbers and how they operate so a plan can be formulated. This news makes the citizens furious and they insist that they strike back at them more fiercely. Eugene demands to know where Alpha's daughter is and Rick tells him that he sent her away to keep her safe. This angers the crowd even more and a small scuffle ensues and quickly escalates as everyone starts to fight one another. After being tackled, Rick gets up and pulls his gun out. He fires a shot into the air and aims it at the crowd of people. He tells the Alexandrians that the next person who throws a punch he'll shoot and that they should all return home immediately. He explains that they will resume talks the next day when everyone has calmed down. That night, Rick goes to Negan and tells him he needs his help. Negan has a grin on his face. Other Cast Co-Stars To be added. Uncredited To be added. Deaths To be added. Trivia * First appearance of Gus. * This episode was adapted from Issue 147 and Issue 148 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead. * This is the eighth episode to share its name with a comic volume, after "Days Gone Bye", "Made to Suffer", "This Sorrowful Life", "Too Far Gone", "No Way Out", "A New Beginning", and "Life and Death". ** This episode, along with "Days Gone Bye", "No Way Out", "A New Beginning", and "Life and Death" are the only episodes to be directly adapted from the respective comic volumes of the same name. The other three used the titles for episodes that are not directly related to the source material from that volume. Category:Episodes Category:TV Series Category:TV Episodes Category:Season 9 (TV Series)